1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to Internet based software applications; and more particularly to application software that is downloaded across the Internet and operable across the Internet.
2. Related Art
The structure of the publicly accessible Internet is generally known to be a global computer network that includes a large number of computer systems that are interconnected by a large number of communication links. Digital communications are serviced on the Internet according to the Internet Protocol/Transfer Control Protocol (TCP/IP) standards and other associated networking standards. Thus, communications across the Internet are substantially standardized to facilitate inter-computer communications. A presence on the Internet is often referred to as a "web site" at which content (e.g., HTML files, audio files, video files, executable files, etc.) is accessible. A web site may be a dedicated stand-alone "web-server" or may simply be an IP address serviced by a service provider. Users of the Internet often use a "browser" or other software to view content contained at web sites. Such content is downloaded from the web site to the user across the Internet infrastructure.
The Internet was originally constructed under a series of government projects so that it could facilitate the exchange of information. The Internet and its associated resources now serve as a vast storage facility for information. From that original beginning, however, the Internet has evolved to support many varied communication services and business operations. These communication services and business operations include electronic mail, voice over IP, virtual private networking, electronic commerce, advertising and a great number of other business activities.
However, because the Internet is unlike any prior business environment, marketing of services and products over the Internet is typically done by trial and error. While advertising via radio, television and newspaper has been refined over the years, advertising via the Internet is in its infancy. Advertisers have great difficulty in determining where to place and maintain ads on the Internet. Further, because it is difficult to determine whether a desired customer base views the advertisements after their placement, advertising on the Internet has been a hit-or-miss proposition.
Success in conducting business and advertising upon the Internet requires that "Internet traffic" reach a particular web site or set of web sites. Thus, mechanisms must be put in place that cause "web surfers" and other Internet users to reach a desired web site or set of web sites. Further, to effectively conduct business on the Internet, a desired set of Internet users that are likely to be affected by the advertisement must reach the particular web site or set of web sites. In a particular advertising example, an electronics retailer desires that all Internet users seeing to purchase electronics over the Internet visit the retailer's web site. Thus, the electronic retailer should purchase ad space on a particular web site known to be frequented by Internet users that may purchase electronics on-line. These users should then be presented with a link to the web site of the retailer.
Other Internet sites of interest to businesses are "portals" and "search engines". Portals are organizations that have a web presence that have links users to other web sites. In order to have a link placed on a portal's site, a business may pay the portal to create and maintain the link. Search engines are organizations which have a web presence and from which Internet content may be searched. In a typical search engine, an Internet user enters one or more search term and requests that the search engine find and list Internet sites relating to the search terms, such Internet sites listed in order. The search engine then returns a list of sites corresponding to the search term(s), typically providing links to the Internet sites. The Internet user may then link to the Internet sites. Thus, for the example of the electronics retailer, it would be desirable for the Internet site of the electronics retailer to be returned based upon a search under the search term "electronics". Further, it would be very desirable for the Internet site of the electronics retailer to be the first site listed in the search.
Search engines have recognized that many operators of Internet sites would like their sites to be listed first in such a search. Thus, they take steps in attempt to reach such a result. One such technique that has been tried is to populate a number of web pages under the control of a web site operator. However, search engine operators desire that their search engines provide meaningful search results. Thus, the search engine operators devised different techniques for determining how their search engines would rank sites produced in a search. Currently, differing search engines use different criteria in determining what web sites a search term or set of search terms will return. However, the importance of a web site being identified in a search only increases.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a system that causes a web site operator to have a greater marketing presence on the Internet, such greater marketing presence relating to the frequency at which a corresponding web site is visited by a desired set of users, the frequency at which the web site is identified in a web search based upon a desired search term or set of search terms and the manner in which beneficial ads are placed across the Internet.